Teaching Faculty Wannabe

No prob! And Raleigh was an awesome place to live. Sadly don’t live there anymore after graduating. I know it is probably past the deadline, but the MSE department is pretty awesome at NC State, just FYI. The only reason I am not applying there is because I think it’s good to explore new places. I am rooting for you too! 

@Moods That is exciting! I have not had any interviews yet hopefully soon though

@Moods Ah okay. Yeah so applicants still might be able to get a sponsor after the March 15th if companies are still looking for peeople?
Also did your company reach out to you?
I see you had 2 interviews congrats!

New worries: I am scared if I am knowledgeable and mentally strong enough for grad school. I suffer from anxiety and I am worried it will get worse when I enter into my PhD program. 
New excitement: I’ve had two phone interviews already and I have another one next week. I might have two professor fighting for me at the same school (might create some awkwardness if I go there). I am now in the confirmation process of a fellowship I applied to. I possibly also have a summer internship at a national lab before entering grad school. 
Comparing my worries now to what they were a month ago, it’s crazy how much can happen in such a short amount of time. Keep your heads up! These are the worst months that we will endure during this process, and I hope all of you end up happy with the results in the end! Best of luck! 

Thanks for this thread! It is indeed an anxious time.
Worries: I'm worried that I might not get into any of the eight schools I applied to.  (Should have applied to more mid-ranked schools!) I'm worried that I spent a lot of my savings on this damn thang. Also if I do get in, being an international applicant, I'm afraid I won't fit in with my peers and worsen my mental health.
Excitement: I'm applying for other research jobs as a back-up, and excited to carry out some more research on ground.. 

Yes, graduate students should fill out the FAFSA. It's possible that you may qualify for certain grants, and if necessary, be eligible for loans. You don't have to accept any money that you don't want/need.

Hi everyone! Just found this forum and wanted to add to the chat with my own status as another reference for people.
I'm applying for PhD and have been admitted to one program so far. I was on Matched for a few eternal weeks and stopped checking after a while because I was going insane lol. I recently had my first interview with an employer and then checked to see that my status had been changed to Held so who know for how long that's been there. I'm hoping the webinar on Monday clears up what we're supposed to do on our end of the recruitment process.
Congrats to everyone who has been hearing good news! I looked through the forum and saw some very positive things =]
EDIT: Also, Only 2/8 schools I have applied to so far have confirmed that my status through GEM, for anyone who might be interested

Hi peeps!
I am new here and just wanted to share my time with people feeling like myself (overwhelmed over responses). I have, as all of you, applied to the GEM Fellowship and have been 'Matched' since forever - just today 2 universities (out of 8) confirmed that I have applied. Looking forward to Monday's webinar.
Edit: Congratulations to those of you who have been reached out by companies!

I'm worried about what I'm going to do if I don't get in anywhere this application cycle.  This year I finished up my MA and spoke at a (small) conference so I had a couple of things for my letter writers to tack onto what they wrote last year, but this year I don't have any real plans or options to make myself a more attractive candidate.  I guess I could try to get an article published based on my MA thesis, but that's quite a long shot.  Part of me wonders what the point would even be in dropping hundreds of dollars more in the coming fall for a similar chance at getting into the same programs.  I know admissions is a crap shoot and you could get lucky and get in the next year just because they'd need, say (in my case) an Africanist, but those aren't great odds.
One step at a time though, I guess.  This application cycle isn't over yet!

Worries: My biggest fear is that I was too ambitious when selecting programs so I won't get accepted anywhere at all. My GPA is relatively low and I have very average research experiences and no publications. I feel like my statements will be the most significant part of my application and I'm not really happy with them so what if I threw away my chances by not working on them more? I have so many fears I just need to hear back from somewhere so this fear that I won't get in anywhere will subside slightly.
Excitement: Everything is officially submitted! My PI submitted the  letter of recommendation yesterday for my last program! That school is also the closest thing I have to a safety and I expect to hear back from them pretty quickly so hopefully I'll have news, positive or negative, within the next two weeks or so!

Worries: I heard back from my top school and they want an interview. But interviews aren’t typical for this particular master’s program. I am so nervous and curious to why they want an interview. It could be my less than average gpa (3.1-3.3), the fact it’s been 5 years since I graduated from undergrad and I’ve only held a relevant job 3 of those years, I made a major educational and career goal change or if there is a discrepancy in my supplementary statement. It could be ANYTHING and it’s eating me up inside. 
Exciting: I wasn’t rejected outright by my top school! 

worries: I won't get in anywhere, my writing sample (most important part of my application) is trash, I come from an unknown, unranked school, I'm just a medium fish in a very small pond right now and my application is really a guppy
excitement: my apps are done and submitted!

I got an email about the rescheduled seminar.

@ray92 lol I mostly just check to see if the universe has heard my plea of releasing me from 'Matched' purgatory 

@ray92 like 5 times a day lmao

@Moods That is how I am feeling right now!!!!

Ditto. I just want to know if I got in or not so I can figure out what I'll be doing the next couple of months.

Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety.

How do the eligibility rules apply to individuals in joint bachelor's-master's programs?
Individuals in this category applying in the 2019 competition (Fall 2018 deadline) will have one more opportunity to apply as first-year doctoral students in the 2020 competition (Fall 2019 deadline). Effective with the 2020 competition (Fall 2019 deadline), individuals pursuing a master's degree simultaneously with the bachelor's degree (joint bachelor's-master's degree) will be considered to be graduate students and will be limited to one application to GRFP; they will not be eligible to apply again as a doctoral degree student.
What if I previously applied in the final year of my joint bachelor's-master's program? Under the one-time rule for graduate student applicants, am I still eligible to apply in the first year of my Ph.D. program?
Yes, but only in the 2019 competition (Fall 2018 deadline). Effective with the 2020 competition (Fall 2019 deadline), individuals who have earned a joint bachelor's-master's degree will not be eligible to apply again as a doctoral degree student.
I have completed more than one academic year of graduate study. Are there any circumstances in which I could be eligible?
Possibly. Individuals who have completed more than one academic year in a degree-granting program, who have earned a previous master's degree of any kind (including bachelor's-master's degree), or who have earned a professional degree (e.g., law, medicine), are eligible only if they have had a continuous interruption in graduate study of at least two consecutive years immediately prior to the application deadline and are not enrolled in a degree-granting graduate program at the application deadline. This means that you cannot already be enrolled in graduate school at the time of the application deadline. You must address the reasons for the interruption in graduate study in your Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Statement. See the GRFP Program Solicitation for detailed eligibility requirements.
What if I previously earned a joint bachelor's-master's degree?
For the 2019 competition (Fall 2018) only, you are eligible to apply as a first-year doctoral student. Effective with the 2020 competition (Fall 2019 deadline), your joint degree will be counted as a master's degree, so you would be ineligible unless you meet the interruption category described above.
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Soooooo, all of this is kind of confusing. However, I think I know what it is saying with all of these. A definite fact is that you can only apply once as a graduate student. I feel like there is change from this year's competition (2018 deadline) for next year's (2019 deadline). I believe that you will only get to apply once if you are in a joint BS/MS program. If you apply next year while still in this program, then you won't be able to apply the following year (2020 deadline) when you are a doctoral student since you will be considered a graduate student while doing your joint degree. I honestly don't know why it is changing next year, but this is what is seems like. However, if you wait two years after getting your joint degree, then you can apply when you get your doctorate. I hope that makes sense.
GEM Fellowship NASA Fellowships DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship program (SCGF)

I am not in statistics, but I know two people who did their PhDs in Stats at NC State and I also did my undergrad at NC State. NC State has strong connections with SAS, which is a large software company. SAS funds a lot of projects at NC State and I believe there are a lot of collaborations with the two (https://news.ncsu.edu/2014/08/sas-agreement/). The Statistics Department is located in SAS Hall. The program might not be super well-known but I think having that connection with SAS is good and NC State is a top research school in general. The two graduate students I know seemed to like the program and they were able to work on multiple projects while they were there. Additionally, NC State is part of the Research Triangle, which allows for a lot of collaborations with various companies, universities, and government agencies in the area. Also, Raleigh is a really cool place.

Second time applying for PhDs. Passionate about the work, plus an acceptance would mean my long distance relationship would be short distance one.

Professor said he didn't think admissions to either the engineering or sciences program would be a problem after an interview, but that was months ago and doubt creeps in. Just hoping for the best.

Congratz on the Mayo interview, I guess I will be seeing you there in Feb for our interviews! 

Worries: I'm an international student, which statistically speaking makes it more difficult for me to get into any program in the US. My GRE scores are mediocre (Verbal 73% / Quantitative 50% / Writing 41%). Out my 3 letters of recommendation, one is from a local professor who is not a doctor. I have 0 scientific publications at peer-reviewed journals. From the hardest to the easiest to get into (according to current publicly available statistics) the places I applied to are: Mayo Clinic, Northwestern University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Kentucky. I am afraid that elite programs such as those at the Mayo Clinic and Northwestern aren't even gonna bother looking at the application of a recent undergrad from Colombia.
Excitement: I am an international student with a very good TOEFL iBT score (116/120), which levels me with local applicants on that matter. Out of the 4 places I applied to, only 2 require GRE scores (the University of Kentucky, and the Mayo Clinic). The average percentile of accepted applicants at the University of Kentucky is 50%, so I'm good, and I was already invited to the first interview weekend at the Mayo Clinic! My GRE scores don't keep me up at night me anymore. I think my letters of recommendation are very good, they all offer different perspectives into my worth as a potential graduate student, even that of the local professor. Even though I have 0 publications, I have given 11 poster presentations/scientific talks. I have 1 poster award. I've contributed to funded NIH grant proposals. I have conducted research in Colombia, the United States, and South Korea. I graduated with honors. I was awarded a distinctive research award by my city's Town Hall. I've talked to professors from Mayo, Northwestern, Kentucky, and other people with doctorates that I look up to, and they've genuinely told me that they are impressed by what I did just in undergrad and that they believe I have a very good chance of getting into the programs I applied to...The thing that excites me the most right now is, as I already mentioned it, the fact that I got called for an interview at Mayo Clinic! I seriously didn't think I would be called because Mayo is such a competitive place. But yay I'm personally gonna be there on February. I guess I did something right! One more thing that excites me: I'm presenting a poster at the Physical Virology GRC in Ventura, CA on January, before "interview month" (February is interview month in my mind), and I'll have the chance to personally meet one of my POI's from Northwestern ... *excited*

Worries: I had one app due Dec 10 and yesterday I realized I had a bunch of typos on my online portfolio AND I put the wrong tracking info on the index page so I don't know if anyone has visited. I went in and fixed both. It might be unlikely the committee has looked at any applications yet but I'm still not feeling good about it. 
sort-of Excitement: This is my second time applying to grad school and looking at prior applications I can see the weakness in my previous  PS/SOP(s). These will be better as I am making sure I spell out why I want to go to THIS program and what I plan to get from the degree, future plans, etc 

@cf6049 I do not think this will affect GEM due to the departments that are feeling the shutdown are:
Housing
Agriculture
National Park Services
 
 
Most of the companies that are government affiliated are DOE which should have funding. So this should not impact the GEM Fellowship and getting sponsored by a government affiliated institution.